diemai

@ ChilliSpoons Not quite sure about concrete sealer , ........but I know , that in Finland many carvers use concrete laquer to topcoat their wooden baits , applied onto the lures with about 8 to 10 dips . That laquer is originally used to apply to concrete walls and especially floors and stairs to achieve a durable and resistant surface . Not certain , whether both terms refer to the same stuff , .......but what I know is , that the Finnish homemades that I own , and treated this way , do have a rock -hard surface . Greetz , diemai

@ JBlaze Great idea about this "riveting" , ...would come neat enough and well suited for smaller production numbers , I guess . Cheers , Dieter

@ ChilliSpoons I'm applying three layers of epoxy clear coat onto my lures , buying it from a supplier of different kinds of resins . I can chose between three different hardeners , which do take influence on the curing time . Since I do not have a rotisserie , I'm taking the fastest catalyst , resulting into a processing time of about 20 minutes , have to flip over the lures only a few times this way to avoid dripping . Smallest pack would cost me about 25 Euros(shipping included) , shelf life is rated at about one year , but most likely exeeds at least 6 months longer . Note that not all topcoats are suitable , some might affect the paintcoat underneath and ruin it , especially when consisting of solvent based paints . Greetz , diemai

@ ChilliSpoons Welcome to the TackleUnderground , ......hope you'd enjoy yourself in here ! Years ago I've encountered a similar problem with some homemade Devon spinners consisting of aluminium square tubing , really no way of attaching a wire hook for hanging nor something to hold on whilst painting by hand brush . Anyway , ....made myself a wooden square dowel to fit into the aluminium tubing real snug , this way I could hold it by the outer end of the dowel and also attach some wire to the dowel end to hang the painted and topcoated lure to dry. The portion of the dowel positioned at the end(or the exit) of the aluminium tubing I had carved a bit thinner than the inner part , so that it would not touch up with the workpiece , impossible for paint or topcoat binding the aluminium tubing to the square dowel . In a nutshell , ........probably you could use a wooden dowel to push into that hole through the bodies of your "Tomics"(I'm familair to that plug) , taper both ends of the dowel , but leave somekinda knob on the ends , so that you could wind some thin wire around for hanging and won't slide off . The tapered ends serve the purpose , that the wooden dowel would not touch up with the exits of the bore not to bind with paint nor topcoat , as this might most likely ruin your work at this particular location when finally removing the insert . BTW , .....I would not go with epoxy nor heat , as this might ruin your work , too , .......just a snug fitting insert with a relief on either end not to touch with the bore exits to avoid binding , ....a wooden dowel could be carefully and easily drilled out , in case it would be too hard to pull or push it out again . Only drawback is , that the bore has to be large enough in diameter to get a sufficiently stable dowel , ....but I guess , that on bigger "Tomics" it is . Good luck , diemai

The cleanest way would be a machined aluminium mold , into which the wire form can be inserted and then the lead plug cast onto it , .......assembly to lip and lureblank would be done after casting , naturally . But this would require precisely and repeatative equally shaped wire forms , also lips and lure blanks would have to be absolutely the same to correspondent with the ballast piece for piece . Guess , this would only be worthwile for a bigger serial production . If I wanted a lure being heavier at the lip end , I might make the lip from metal sheet instead of Lexan , or just glue in a metal bar(brass or stainless steel) between wireform and lip(line tie eye passing through both metal bar and lip) , ....so straight underneath the Lexan lip , but also anchored into the lurebody just like the lip itsself . Just my , .......good luck , diemai

........I remember now , Mark ! Greetz , Dieter

........if you say so , Mark ?? Greetz , Dieter

@ RayburnGuy Thanks for sharing , Ben , ......very interesting site this is ! Greetz , Dieter

@ BobP ..................would have to try these false lips as well , thanks for sharing , ....and otherwise , ...the final statement in your post above is dead on ! @ CarverGLX Please let us know about your progress once you would have found out , ......! Cheers , diemai

I'm using simple Frankfurter sausage or asparapagus jars with tin lids , ......first I was concerned that these won't seal off very well , but soon I've found , that this is not the case , especially not because I flip over the closed jars after use once , so that the prop would seal off itsself by drying between glass and lid , ...and it does not cause problems to open again even after days , dry remainders dissolve again after a short while when falling into the mix . I guess , that you will have problems to separate the bamboo stick , as the prop would adhere to it as well , since it is similar to wood , .......I'm using 1,0mm aluminium wire , bent curved to sit snugly in screw eye pilot holes . But any metal would work , just have lots of this wire accessible for free , ......also bent the wire ends to act as hooks to hang up the lures to dry . Tried to dip lure blanks readily assembled with ballast and screw eyes before , but won't do it again . I glue in my sreweyes with epoxy glue , also close the ballast holes with epoxy glue , .....prop does not adhere to epoxy nor metal , also a longer exposure of cured epoxy into my thinner prop mix for soaking affects the glue and softens it . I now prefer to cut and drill out any cured prop remainders from lipslot , bellyslot and pilot holes , even if it is added effort , .....and assemble all hardware and lips after all prop dips would have cured . Here's a little write-up I've published on another site a while ago , .......don't claim my method to be perfect , but this is how I do it : http://www.lureandmore.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=9505 Greetz , diemai

@ RayburnGuy Looks like he's just folding them from paper(maybe baking paper ?)and securing the bags with a strip of clear tape . greetz , Dieter

@ RayburnGuy OK , Ben , ...after having had some computer problems linking videos in here , I'm now finally able to write my reply : Check out this video put out by Paul Adams , the master of simple solutions , .....scroll the clip forward to 13:57 , ........he does not need any syringes to fill in glue into screwe eyes' pilot holes : Greetz , Dieter

Still had Google Chrome downloaded on my computer , since the site of my fishing club only works with this browser , not with Internet Explorer either , ......obviously it functions now to link video's and pictures here on TU as well ! video test: picture test : Seems to work ! Prior to trying out Google Chrome browser for this post I did a system set-back to the date prior to the suspected Windows update and tried linking and attaching pictures into the text again , but it did not help , ...same problem as before occured ! Anyway , I can be using Google Chrome for the TackleUnderground now , .....wish I was a bit smarter about computers . ................and I still have the Firefox option as well , ...thanks for the download link ! Thanks a lot for your help , ....greetz , Dieter

Thanks a lot for your efforts , Curt , ...so I guess the problem must be on my side , guess it has to do with my recent Windows update , I remember to have clicked one certain option in a window , that popped up after the update ,.......going to look , whether I could do something about it ! Thanks again , ...greetz , Dieter

Hi , fellas , Tried to reply a to a members request last night intending to copy a YouTube video and paste it into my post for a better , visual explanation on the topic . When clicking on the link symbol on the toolbar above the text square , a new window would pop up now , different to the one that used to do , ......and if I paste the link's code into it , nothing would happen other than the link code would be readable there , in fact nothing reacts anymore on the TU site opened ! I can't quit that field by clicking the red "X" in upper right corner , in this case a new window would pop up , but still no reaction after clicking on the squares there , ......apart from these two windows popping up , the site kinda freezes , .....have to shut down TU entirely and re-open the starter screen to get new access to the forums , ...of course the reply text field with my previously typed text would have been gone as well . I'm a computer dummy and I'm wondering , whether something's wrong on my side(had recent updates on my Windows some days ago) , .......or someone could explain the correct use of this new window popping up after having clicked the "link" lcon on the text field's toolbar ? Thanks a lot , ....cheers , Dieter PS : Just noticed , that I cannot place the attached picture into the text anymore as well , ......was possible before to place it at any line of the text as desired .

@ con3head .....from HER ? Is there a "Mama Chrismas" , .....why'd she never come to me ! Just kidding , ...surely you mean your sweetheart , ...hope she won't regret , if you should spend the rest of the Xmas holiday in your workshop ! I'll be checking your gallery pics , ....off to work , .....greetz , Dieter